WASHINGTON - A bipartisan quartet of senators, including two National Rifle Association members and two with "F" ratings from the potent firearms lobby, are quietly trying to find a compromise on expanding the requirement for gun-sale background checks.

A deal, given a good chance by several participants and lobbyists, could add formidable political momentum to one of the key elements of President Barack Obama's gun control plan. Currently, background checks are required only for sales by the nation's 55,000 federally licensed gun dealers, but not for gun show, person-to-person sales or other private transactions.

I’d love a good compromise on the subject. How about background checks for all purchases at gun shows, in exchange for repeal of NFA ‘34 and the ‘86 FOPA ban on new machine guns? Plus 50-state Vermont carry. Oh - and remove the make, model, and serial number from all 4473 forms, just to be sure the forms will only be used for a background check but not also backdoor gun registration. How’s that for a compromise?

4
posted on 02/10/2013 2:42:21 PM PST
by coloradan
(The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)

Manchin is traitor? No, he’s a Democrat and thus never actually believed in the principles he now works against as a senator. You have to be a supporter of something before you can betray it. Democrats DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

Here’s a compromise: a single background check, you’re then given a card, with your name and address on it, then no further background checks for 10 years, no records kept of any guns you buy. Any rejections must be approved by a judge in writing for specific cause. The card you get is the only record that may exist that you have undergone a background check. Any question comes up, the governnent has no record to check, you show them your card.

Most of my liberal friends who want universal background checks really mean firearm registration. They will admit that background checks will not keep determined criminals from getting firearms, but they hope that registration, insurance, license fees, medical/mental health examination, mandatory safety training, expensive gun safes will dramatically cut down on the number of firearms in private ownership. That they feel will in maybe 20 to 30 years reduce gun violence.

13
posted on 02/10/2013 3:00:08 PM PST
by Robert357
(D.Rather "Hoist with his own petard!" www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1223916/posts)

So then infiltrators who never believed in the Constitution but conned their way into office for the express purpose of acting against the Constitution and the people it protects .... are not traitors?

I’m thinking traitor-hood has to be based on intentional acts adverse to our national interests by those obligated to protect those interests, regardless of their personal beliefs at some earlier stage of their life. Just sayin ...

The Federal Government, e.g. moochers party (liberal socialist) do not give a $hit if nothing passes on “gun control” so long as the government gets a “federal data base” and “registration” of all American firearms for future confiscation and harassment of any American they (government) decides should or should not possess a weapon. As it currently stands, the government simply does not know what firearms are in the United States, where they all are, and who is in possession of them.

The Freddy’s can't confiscate what they do not know exists or who has them! The 25 Executive Orders started the federal government's data mining on all firearms in the United States. They will collect intelligence from every source imaginable, e.g. schools, public blogs, private emails, Americans doctors, mental health, and the list goes on and on. What the Freddy’s desperately need immediately, is the green light from US Congress to do exactly what the Freddy’s are already doing. An OK from the socialist in Congress will simply bring the federal registry of American Firearms into the public light. The dog and pony show about a ban on assault weapons and 30 round mags is nothing more than Americans watching the left hand while the right hand takes your firearms from you through attrition and confiscation. The feds will start with so called “felons” and the American people will clap and praise the feds for doing such a wonderful job, at least, until the feds make a determination that Tea Party members should not possess firearms as well!

Once the Freddy’s have the federal registry data base, it will spell the end of Americans possessing any type of firearm, because the Freddy’s deciding who is worthy and who is not worthy to possess a firearm will result in no American possessing a firearm unless you are working for the government!

All the government wants is the federal registry data base, enough said, it will be all down hill from there! Listen to the old media, they will tell you what is really going on: “the majority of Americans support [closing the loophole at gun shows]” What the hell does that mean, it means, the federal government wants every American to go to the federal government and ask permission to purchase or sell a firearm, guess what, back door federal registry and a data base for those purchases!

Stop this madness it its tracks without compromise, or Americans will no longer be able to purchase or sell a firearm without first “permission” from the federal government! Back door registration and a federal data base so the Freddy’s can determine if you as an American are qualified under federal standards!

I once thought that Senator Coburn was the logical heir to Jesse Helms as a consistent conservative leader, but as time has passed, I find him less and less useful. That’s why I will be glad to see him bow out in 2014; I think he said he would only serve two terms, or has he changed his mind?

23
posted on 02/10/2013 3:26:13 PM PST
by Theodore R.
("Hey, the American people must all be crazy out there!")

Although I oppose any compromise with the gun-grabbers, I think it would be interesting to publicly offer them one (the ones suggested on this thread are good choices) and force them to say yay or nay. If the game were played right they could be squeezed into admitting their true desire: universal registration. I want them to have to defend their true position, not the candy-coated one they present to the public.

29
posted on 02/10/2013 3:58:26 PM PST
by hitkicker
(The only thing worse than a politician is a child molester)

No compromise. I did not join the NRA just to have them “incremental” us into losing more gun rights.

I have purchased all my weapons via an FFL, so I gain nothing by saying that. There is a paper trail for the small collection of weapons that I have possess.

If I thought the politicians were genuinely searching for a way to prevent criminals from getting guns I would be more inclined to encourage my representative to discuss expanded instant background checks; however, I do not trust the people pushing this initiative. These people have shown their true colors and really are just trying to kill the 2nd Amendment via 1000 paper cuts. I am in no mood to compromise with these obvious firearms prohibitionists. Stop infringing on the rights of law-abiding Americans. If you want to make a real difference with gun violence, aggressively arrest\detain, prosecute, and imprison the many gang-bangers, career criminals, and mentally unstable people out there who are barred by current law from owning guns and commit almost all of nation’s gun crime. Leave the rest of us alone.

I too think that the database is their real goal. It’s possible that they won’t use it for complete confiscation; rather, they may use it for selective confiscation—only going after “enemies”. For example, the bodyguards of Hollywood lefties won’t be hassled.

31
posted on 02/10/2013 4:01:55 PM PST
by hitkicker
(The only thing worse than a politician is a child molester)

If we can limit the number of rounds in a firearm magazine, we can limit the number of pages in a Hustler magazine. The same specious utilitarian logic that applies to the first also applies to the second.

Yeah, you’re correct. If the senate vote on upcoming gun control legislation should appear to be within one or two Dem’s short of passing you can be sure that Joe Manchin and Tom Colburn will have their tails twisted till they squel like nutted hogs. And, they will be turned and vote the Dem’s over the top. You can make book on this......

36
posted on 02/10/2013 4:44:24 PM PST
by snoringbear
(E.oGovernment is the Pimp,)

Of course a database is their main goal. They get that and the rest is history............

“This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future! ~Adolph Hitler, 1935

That's why I belong to Gun Owners of America instead. They don't compromise on the 2A, no chipping away, decade after decade. We've already agreed to too many restrictions, there never should have been any, especially of the paperwork/registration/permit kind, just laying down a red carpet for confiscation.

They want a background check, fine lets use a voter registration card. If you are law abiding and sane enough to vote then you can surely purchase a firearm. Show your card make your purchase and be on your way.

Not just unenforceable.
Unintended consequence: once a gun is sold off-books, it will have to stay off-books. When it pops up in the system again, lack of a purchase record is presumptive evidence of criminal acquisition. There is no incentive to bring a gun back to “legal” status, but the nontrivial cost (hundreds or thousands of dollars) and robust durability mean the owner isn’t just going to trash it and has an interest in selling it somehow.

42
posted on 02/10/2013 5:23:49 PM PST
by ctdonath2
(3% of the population perpetrates >50% of homicides...but gun control advocates blame metal boxes.)

” Currently, background checks are required only for sales by the nation’s 55,000 federally licensed gun dealers, but not for gun show, person-to-person sales or other private transactions.”....
What eejit wrote that line. The same laws apply at gun shows as at anywhere else. The writer reinforces the gun-grabbers’ talking point that there are no background checks at gun shows.

If they were anything more than that, then the government would take the forms they have that felons signed presumably also with her fingerprints on them and at least attempt what should be slam  dunk prosecutions. 70 out of the purported 70,000 means they’re not even trying to get the guys that are at least plausibly bad guys. They’re after everyone else instead.

48
posted on 02/10/2013 6:09:42 PM PST
by lepton
("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)

I got a better idea....Repeal of all gun laws, Constitutional carry and any critter at any level of gov’t whom attempts to abridge ANY of our Rights (especially one as easy as ‘...shall NOT be infringed”) be immediately removed from office, lose all perks/benefits/pay and be immediately escorted to the nearest Federal prison for 10+ years for Deprivation of Rights violations.

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